European Jews have asked leaders and officials in Europe to cut contact with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas until he apologizes for anti-Semitic comments he made in a speech delivered Monday at the start of a four-day Palestinian National Council gathering.
European Jewish Congress (EJC) President Dr. Moshe Kantor said in a statement released Wednesday, “For far too long European leaders have given Mahmoud Abbas the benefit of the doubt over his repeated incitement against Israel, the Jewish People and his denial of the Holocaust.
“This must come to an end and he must be treated like any racist or anti-Semite and contact with him must cease until he apologizes. It is clear what course of action European leaders would take if this was a neo-Nazi or far-Right leader. The comments and ideology are seemingly identical so the treatment should be the same,” Kantor added.
Abbas has faced accusations of anti-Semitism before. He claimed in his address to the PNC that the Holocaust was a result of Jews’ “social behavior, [charging interest], and financial matters,” that European Jews have no ties with Israel, and that Hitler had struck a deal with Jews.
“This type of language has no place on the street let alone by someone who is considered a leader and a diplomatic interlocutor,” Kantor said.
“If the European leadership wants to be seen as an honest broker in the peace process and standing against anti-Semitism then it must do more than merely condemn these remarks.”